The 11 Best Acoustic Wall Treatment Panels For Home Recording Studios

Acoustic panels and diffusers are the two most common acoustic wall treatments needed in every recording studio. Learn what they do and how they work to make your studio and your mixes sound better. Then learn how to use them in your studio and discover which panels and diffusers are the best products available today.

Do you know the one thing that all well-regarded professional recording studios have in common?

The answer is:

Acoustic wall treatments…

These acoustic sound products not only make their rooms sound better but give mixers and producers an accurate acoustic environment to produce great mixes.

So if you want great-sounding tracks and better mixes in your home studio, you need acoustic treatments too.

Acoustic Panels

Acoustic panels are lightweight sound absorbers made of a special acoustic foam. They are effective at controlling and reducing early reflections, flutter echo, slap echo, excessive reverb and comb filtering that result from sound bouncing off walls and ceilings.

Acoustic sound panels are designed to absorb mid to high frequencies only. They are not effective at reducing low frequencies – that is what bass traps are designed for.

Acoustic Panels

There are two types of acoustic panels:

Wall mounted panels used for the overall improvement of a studio’s acoustics.

Gobos, or moveable baffles used to partition off a vocalist or instrumentalist for isolation.

I’m going to focus solely on wall mounted panels in this post.

Acoustic Panel Surfaces

Different manufacturers make panels with different surfaces – flat, wedged or little pyramids. The design makes some difference in the result, but no single pattern is considered better than all the others.

The flat surface looks a little more elegant and refined than the pyramid or wedge patterns which can look cheap.

Acoustic Panel Shapes and Sizes

Acoustic panels come in 1”, 2” or 4” thicknesses. 1” panels are the least expensive but absorb the least sound.

Most panels are 1’ square, 2’ square, or 2’ x 4’. The 1’ and 2’square versions are a little easier to work with and lighter to hang than the 2’ x 4’ panels.

Which Size Panels Should I Get?

1” panels are inexpensive but provide the least amount of absorption. I don’t recommend them.

2” panels are your best bet – they provide excellent absorption at a reasonable price.

4” panels are much more expensive, and would probably work best for studios with serious acoustic issues requiring lots of mass.

If you are also installing bass traps you will likely need fewer acoustic panels; bass traps, due to their size and mass, will also absorb some high and mid frequencies.

NRC Ratings

NRC (Noise Reduction Coefficient) ratings are a measure of a product’s effectiveness at absorbing sound. MRC ratings fall between 0 and 1, with a higher number indicating greater absorption.

It’s important to know, however, that these ratings are averaged for frequencies between 125 Hz and 4 kHz. Acoustic panels are quite ineffective on frequencies below about 1 kHz so their scores may look worse than they really are. From 2-4 kHz they are quite effective.

How Many Acoustic Panels Do I Need?

I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of studios and rehearsal spaces that have whole walls covered in egg cartons, blankets, or acoustic panels.

Almost always this is overkill…

The object of acoustic treatments is to fix acoustic issues, not create new ones by eliminating all high and mid frequency sound reflections.

Too much treatment will make your room sound dead and claustrophobic. And your recordings and overall mixes will reflect this.

While studio size plays a factor, most home studios use around 36 to 48 square feet of panels. This, of course, can vary greatly depending on your room’s current layout and acoustics.

The only accurate way to determine the amount of sound treatment you need is by doing an acoustics analysis of your room.

Free Room Acoustics Analysis!

Auralex, Ultimate Acoustics, and ATS Acoustics, three leading acoustic sound product makers, offer free room acoustics analyzer programs. You can use them to determine how much sound treatment you need for your studio, their layout in your studio, plus tips on where to place everything.

Of course, all three companies want you to purchase their products once they provide their analysis, but you are under no obligation to do so.

Auralex offers two excellent free tools to help you evaluate your studio in more detail:

Room Layout xXpress – an automated studio room layout app that is designed to give instant recommendations for small rooms.

Auralex Free Studio Evaluation Service – a free personalized analysis of your room with recommendations of specific products and where to place them. This service is the most comprehensive and you get the ability to ask questions specific to your situation. Highly recommended!

ATS Acoustics Free Online Room Acoustics Analysis

ATS provides a free online room acoustics analysis. You provide your room’s dimensions and surface info, and they determine how much acoustic treatment is needed for your room.

Ultimate Acoustics’ Room Analysis App

This free iOS app (available in the Apple Store) will help you determine the right amount of acoustic treatment you need for your studio.

How And Where To Place Acoustic Panels

The following section outlines how to place your panels to deal with first reflections, a common issue in all studios.

Dealing With 1st Reflection Points

The following video explains the “mirror trick” that addresses 1st reflection points on side walls:

This next video explains how and where to place absorber panels on side walls:

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How To Mount Acoustic Panels Without Damaging Your Walls

There are a number of ways to attach acoustic panels to your walls and ceiling without causing lots of damage.

Glues and Adhesives

Liquid adhesives designed for mounting panels such as Auralex’s TubeTak Pro, spray-on adhesives like FoamTak, and adhesive mounting tabs like EZ-Stick do an excellent job of mounting your panels on your walls and ceiling.

HOWEVER, because the adhesives are so strong they usually end up taking off your paint when you try to remove them AND cause damage to the panels themselves.

Monkey Hook Picture Hangers – these hooks only make a very small hole in your wall but can support up to 50 lbs. when used on standard 1.2” drywall.

Double Stick Tape – this tape is strong enough to hold lightweight panels and usually will not take paint off the walls.

Impaling Clips – these inexpensive clips are designed for hanging panels and bass traps. They are screwed into the wall so they can hold much more weight than adhesive based solutions. Screw holes can be easily patched and painted over when needed.

Small Head Nails – I attached my own panels using small head nails. The holes are small enough to neither cause visible damage to the panels or the walls and ceiling.

Acoustic Panels Recommendations

The first four products are from Auralex, a leading manufacturer of acoustic products.

Auralex Designer Series Treatment DST-112

The DST-112 is sold in a 24-pack of panels. Each panel is 12” X 12”, and 2” at the thickest point.

They come in Charcoal color only.

The DST-112 panels, although they have an overall NRC rating of 0.60, provide excellent sound absorption between 2-4 kHz.

Auralex Pro Plus™ Roominator – 14 Panel Kit

Diffuser Panels

Acoustic Diffusers

Unlike acoustic panels that are designed to absorb sound, acoustic diffusers act to diffuse and scatter sound energy.

They work to interrupt echoes created by sound reflections bouncing off of walls and ceilings and are used to reduce comb filtering, first reflections and flutter echo.

Rather than deaden a room, diffusers help preserve a room’s positive ambiance qualities and add a sense of space and depth.

Diffusers work in the 300 Hz to 3 kHz range. You will get some low-frequency control with a diffuser, but bass traps will still be needed to correct serious low-end issues in a studio.

How To Place Diffusers

Diffusers are generally placed on the back wall of your studio, not behind your monitors but behind your head on the opposite wall. They are also sometimes installed on the ceiling to deal with first reflections.

They should be placed in the upper half of your wall.

Below is a video outlining diffuser placement.

Placing Diffusers Video

Diffuser Panel Recommendations

Diffuser Product Recommendations

NOTE: I’ve focused on plastic/polystyrene diffusers for my recommendations. Wood diffusers are better looking and arguably more effective but are much more expensive.

About The Author

Michael is a veteran award-winning composer, publisher, and producer. He is the owner of The Music Kitchen and Audio Addiction Music Library, a production music library with worldwide distribution. You can learn more about him on the About page.